


Looking for a Hero

by leelee2890 (leelee10289)



Series: Looking for a Hero [1]
Category: We Can Be Heroes (2020)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leelee10289/pseuds/leelee2890
Summary: Who was Missy’s mother? Who earned Marcus Moreno’s heart? Welcome to the generation before Missy, Wildcard, etc. Meet their newest team member, Reena Autumn!
Relationships: Marcus Moreno/Original Character(s), Marcus Moreno/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Looking for a Hero [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2190405
Kudos: 7





	1. 1

Reena Autumn was the newest member of the Heroics team. She was working with legends like Sharkboy and Lavagirl, whom had come into existence a few years ago from something called Planet Drool. Not to mention Vox, Blinding Fast, Invisi Girl, Crushing Low, Crimson Legend, Red Lightning Fury, Tech-No, and especially Miracle Guy. Her team leader was Marcus Moreno. He was a legend all to himself, and he didn't use any superhero name.

She on the other hand wasn't that super. She was like a super analyzer. It was thrilling to say the least. She wasn't entirely sure how she got recruited to the Heroics, but here she was nevertheless.

"How are you doing, Reena?" Marcus asked as he walked up to her.

"I'm doing well," she answered but kept inputing the codes into the computer.

The first thing she analyzed was his super cocky behavior. The next was that he seemed nervous.

"Why are you asking?"

"We're heading out on a mission, and I need to know if you're up to the task," Marcus stated.

"You want to know if I'm super enough for the job, but don't have anyone else to ask because everyone else is already out," she monotoned.

"No, no, of course not," he backpedaled hard.

"Where is it? What is it?" she asked.

She was a little busy rewriting the coding for the security software for the Spies program. Apparently there had been a hacker who warped the mainframe for a computer game and managed to get himself elected President. It was a big screw up on their part.

"Monster on the Plains of Kansas."

"What's the problem? You're Marcus Moreno you can handle anything," she raised her eyebrow.

"True, but I've been required to take a partner on this one," he let her know.

"So why would it bother you if I was super enough?" she asked knowingly.

"It doesn't," he arrogance growing.

Reena finished the new code inputs. She would need to come back and make sure the firewall was up to new standards, but she could wait on that.

"Fine, let's go."

***

Riding in a helicopter type of transport, Reena was waiting to see the new threat.

She wore a dark blue tight shirt with a hot pink leather jacket. She wore tight jeans and a utility belt with various everyday objects on them. She wasn't a tech genius like Tech-No, but it was good enough. She wore ragged sneakers that needed some repair at the moment.

"Are you sure you're equipped enough?" Marcus asked.

He was in his typical black top attire. He had twin swords strapped to his back with a black protective chest plate. He also wore protective arm braces. She noticed he had enough sense to have some form of protection on him.

"I'm sure I'm fine," she half heartily assured him.

She could read him like a book, well anyone, but he tried to so hard to be unreadable. It was laughable how open he was to her in retrospect.

He was already judging her on how little she was prepared and how much he would need to step in and save her. He was doing it because he was more than confident in his abilities, but he did also care about whether or not she got hurt. He did have a hero's heart underneath it after all.

He nodded at her like he didn't believe her, but they really didn't have any time for that because the big monster was in view.

It was a massive slimy beast with three horns on its heads. It had a long tail the size of two school buses. There were two massive arms with three claws on each side. It was currently crashing into the capitol building of Kansas.

"Let's go," Marcus ordered.

They donned their mini helicopter packs and jumped out of their transport. Both of them thinking about how much easier it would be if they had powers that involved some kind of flight. Marcus's was the closest since he could at least use his magnetic powers to hold onto things and shoot himself places.

Reena kept a ways back while Marcus sprang towards the the beast. He instantly jumped up to slash the creature, but it spewed slim on him and his swords.

"Ugh," she grimaced.

She saw Marcus still trying to cut the creature down, but the slim was getting in the way. He tried to get away and clean his blades but the tail swung around and knocked him on his back.

"Aren't you gonna do anything?" he hollered.

"I'm thinking!" she shouted back.

They were kinda at a type disadvantage here. His swords couldn't cut the slime, and she didn't have any abilities that could straight up fight the thing. It was too big.

"Think faster!" he hollered as they rolled away from a strike at them.

She focused on what the creature was doing and what it looked like. She took notice of its lack of physical eyes immediately. That wasn't hard. It was huge. She also noticed how it grappled around like it was trying to find a perchase on the ground. It didn't just lack visible eyes, it was actually blind, but how was it knowing where they where?

Marcus jumped up and flipped off of a car to give his swords a bit more force into the creature. The creature swung around and knocked the car out of underneath him but didn't seem to aim for him. It squirted slime out of a pore which shot him back several feet.

Even Marcus was grimacing at his slimy state. His swords utterly looked ruined.

"Hey! Can you magnetize street lamps?" she asked him.

"What? Why?" he asked confused.

"I have a plan!"

She saw how the creature only aimed for him when he made a huge noise. It was blind but either following sounds or sound waves. It was slimy, so she figured it was mostly water. There was a massive fountain in town, and if Marcus could send an electric pole or lamp into the water then they could electrocute it. Hopefully that would stun it or kill it.

"Stay back until you get the signal! Then send an electric pole or anything like that my way!"

The creature heard their shouting and turned back to them.

Reena didn't give him any time to ask questions because she bolted off and made sure to jump on top of as many cars as possible. She took out her com device and found an audio recording of Vox's song. She put on the most annoying sound and played it loud.

The plan was currently working as the creature was chasing her around. She quickly made it to the fountain when the massive beast almost made it on top of her. The thing wasn't in the water yet.

A moment later the beast managed to smack her down into the water. She struggled to dodge enough to get up and out of the fountain. She couldn't give Marcus the signal while she was in the fountain. She'd be electrocuted too.

While she was being chased by the monster, Marcus had scaled a tall building to get a look at what was going on. He immediately followed what she was doing. When he saw her go down, he knew he had to do something.

Reena was getting smacked down again when she felt something pull at her belt, her metal infused belt.

"Ah!"

A moment later, she was flying through the air into Marcus's arms. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards him to keep her from falling off the roof.

"Now," she told him, and he swished his hand out and two lamp poles crashed into the fountain.

The electricity flooded the creature, and it was knocked unconscious.

They both let out a sigh of relief. They looked at each other for a moment before realizing something.

"Ugh! You're covered in slime."

"Me? You're soaking wet."

"Better to be wet than slimy, but you got it in my hair now."

"Way to thank your hero," he toned.

"I had it under control," she defended.

She wasn't letting him get away with that. He'd still be trying to stab it if it wasn't for her. He was worse than Miracle Guy sometimes, and that was bad.

"Because you totally had it under control when that thing was about to squash you," he retorted.

"More or less..."

Suddenly Marcus's communicator went off.

"Good job you two! Now get back to headquarters! Your mother has some training exercises for you," their current director of the Heroics program told them.

Marcus let out a groan. Great, he was gonna be scolded by his mother probably.


	2. 2

"Hello, Mrs. Moreno," Reena greeter the older woman.

Both her and Marcus had quickly washed up and changed clothes before meeting up in the trainning hall.

"Please, call me Anita," Marcus's mother spoke.

"Anita," Reena awkwardly spoke.

She still didn't think she was familiar enough with them to be on first name basis.

"Marcus, sweetie. You took too long," Anita scolded.

"Thanks, mom," he deadpanned.

"Now join the others in training," the woman gestured to them.

Reena pulled her still damp hair into a ponytail and followed Marcus into the trainning hall. It was a large elaborate room with various devices and obstacle courses.

Miracle Guy was punching holographic boulders while Blinding Fast was running laps. Vox was fighting holographic soldiers while Red Lightning Fury was shocking flying projectiles. Crimson Legend was blowing up things while Crushing Low was taking down holographic buildings. Invisi Girl was practicing her invisibility endurance, and Tech-No was creating new inventions for his usage. The only ones not there were Lavagirl and Sharkboy.

That was the trick of their trainning room. The holographic projections had real physical weight to them. They may have been made of computerized pixels, but they could punch them right back just as hard. They could manipulate the weight of the objects to be as heavy or light as needed. The wasn't much they couldn't prepare for in here.

Marcus unsheathed his swords and ran towards some computer to get some holographic fighters for himself.

She, on the other hand, started towards the virtual simulator, but a voice stopped her.

"What are you doing?" Anita asked.

"Trainning...," she trailed off because why did that sound like the wrong answer.

She took in the woman's stance. It was slightly harder than normal, but there was still that motherly feel she resonated. The woman could be strict, and she understood why Marcus would be frustrated by her, but overall there was a deep love between the pair.

"You're always wondering why you were chosen for the Heroics, but you never give yourself a reason to answer that," Anita wisely spoke, "Now take this and go fight some foes."

The woman handed her a staff to wield. She had one collapsed in her belt, but this would be fine too.

She took the instrument and walked over to the fighting area where Vox was too. She stuck some cotton in her ears to save her from being in the way of her abilities. She didn't want her hearing to be damaged long term.

She swung the staff around and slashed at the holographic fighter. It blocked her blow and slashed his weapon at her. She ducked to dodged and spun around and kicked it back. She spun around again and slashed the staff across its chest.

Hearing a sound behind her, she swished the staff around hit back the piece of holographic boulder that had accidentally gotten away from Miracle Guy.

She flipped backwards and threw the staff into the shoulder of the holographic fighter. She pulled her grappling hook from her belt and tossed it at the staff. She pulled on the rope, and the figure tumbled towards her. She just leaned back and kicked it down, and while she was doing this, she pulled her staff and hook back to her side.

***

While this was going on, Anita and Marcus were on a ledge observing her and the others in the trainning hall.

"Do you still think she's not a hero?" Anita asked him.

"I wouldn't say that, but how can someone who doesn't have any powers be a member of the Heroics? I don't know why the director approved this," Marcus admitted.

"Anyone can be a hero," Anita stated.

That was the original Heroics program statement.

***

Reena slashed her staff at Vox who sang her way out of the attack. She turned around and kicked up at the woman, but the singing hero turned her voice up. Her cotton wasn't thick enough to completely block her hearing, and she was starting to get a bad headache.

She twirled her staff around as fast as possible to try and change the direction of the sound waves. It worked long enough for her to get a turn in and bash Vox down a peg. She stepped up her game and slashed her staff now again, but Vox used her voice to block the blow.

At this moment, Tech-No accidentally let out a fuse which knocked Blinding Fast off his course, and he ran smack into them. Vox used her voice to land lightly, but she was knocked straight into Miracle Guy who accidentally sent a boulder into Red Lightning Fury. Red's projectiles, she was shocking down, hit Crimson Legend who accidentally blew up the holographic building that Crushing Low was using. The force took him back, and he accidentally broke down the floor under Invisi Girl who fell down the hole.

Immediately the fighting started up between them.

"You broke my concentration!" Invisi shouted at Crushing Low.

"I couldn't even see you!" Crushing shouted back.

"That was the point!"

"You need to control your little flying things!" Crimson shouted at Red.

"Or you could dodge! You're so full of yourself!" Red shouted back.

"You almost hit me!" Vox shouted at Miracle Guy.

"And that's my fault! Blame Blinding Fast!" Miracle shouted back.

"You tripped me on purpose!" Blinding Fast shouted at Tech-No.

"I'm telling you that was an accident!" Tech shouted back.

Marcus instantly jumped down to stop his team from fighting.

"Hey! Stop it! All of you!" he shouted over them all.

None of them were listening.

"Stop this nonsense!" Anita Moreno shouted above them.

This got them to stop fighting.

"Listen!" she shouted.

They all looked at her, and she pointed to her son.

"We can't be a team if you all keep fighting like this," Marcus tried.

"Oh yeah, where are you all the time? You're Mr. Solo guy," Miracle pointed out, "Who are you to tell us to work together?"

"I'm the leader," he persisted.

"The only reason you're the leader is because you're Anita's son," Crushing added.

"Guys," Marcus raised his hands in defense.

"You need to stand down Mr. Fancy Swordsman," Tech rounded on him too.

"Better than your useless tech," Marcus retorted.

"Shut up!" Anita shouted down at them all.

Even her own son was following in this foolishness.

"You're all so busy fighting that you've missed who's missing?" she continued.

"Sharkboy?" Vox spoke up.

"Lavagirl?" Crimson asked.

"No!" Anita shouted exasperatedly.

Marcus looked around and started to count. He noticed Tech, Crimson, Red, Crushing, Blinding, Miracle, Invisi, Vox, Red, and... and... who did he come here with.... Reena.

"Reena's gone," he realized.

"Took you long enough," Anita countered.

"Thanks, mom," he deadpanned.

"What are you all standing around looking at me for? Go look for her," Anita ordered.

All the Heroics in the room ran out after Reena, and Marcus had no idea of where'd she go.

***

Reena had slipped away in during the arguments. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked into the director's office.

"Ah, Miss Autumn, what can I do for you?" Lorenza Coldwell spoke.

She was the new and current director of the Heroics program. The previous director, Max, had been promoted to be over the whole directory of secret program. It was Max's last act as director to enter her into the Heroics program.

"I wanted to know if my transfer went through to join the Spies program instead," she admitted.

Lorenza looked up from her task.

"This is the fourth time you applied."

".... so is it fourth time is the charm because one through three was not."

"I'm sorry, Reena, but your application has once again been denied," Lorenza looked at her empathically.

"Come on, Lor. You know I'm better suited to the Spies program," Reena basically pleaded.

She wasn't build for hero life. She preferred to slink away to the shadows and blend in. She didn't want to be in the open media that the Heroics worked with.

"I'm sorry Reena, but this is the last act done by our respected director, and I won't go against him. For now you're on the Heroics team," Lorenza finalized.

***

"Why are we searching for this powerless loser?" Red asked.

"I don't know, but I guess we need to be quick," Vox responded.

"I bet I can find her first," Miracle bragged.

"You? I'm the fastest one around," Blinding retorted.

"My tech will find her faster than any of you," Tech bragged himself.

"Oh yeah? You're on," Miracle bet.

Marcus jumped out of the way when Miracle flew through the ceiling, Blinding raced around, and Tech slammed into some while he was busy looking at his monitor.

Crushing and Crimson had already gone off in another direction while Invisi might not have even been with them. She turned invisible immediately following the order.


	3. 3

Reena was currently hiding out in one of the Spy's secret tunnels. That was the upside to helping build their software protections. She plowed through some of their secrets.

Her and Lorenza had been friends for about four years. She was a cousin to the Cortezes, the leading Spy family currently. It was thanks to Lorenza that she managed to get into the secret part of the intelligence agencies. Accidentally saving a spy had its advantages. She had hoped that Lor's new promotion would get her transferred, but that clearly didn't happen.

***

Marcus was going through the woman's dormitory. Vox and Red, for some reason, went and searched the other rooms, leaving him in hers. He thought it was because they didn't really want to search for Reena.

He felt a little uncomfortable going through her things, but he was looking for clues as to where she would go. He wasn't looking at anything too closely that would be awkward later.

He did find some interesting photographs in a small album. There was no writing, but he surmised they were of her family although he noticed she didn't look like her family at all. He flipped through album some more and came across a very interesting photo. It was of the current director of the Heroics with her arm around a smiling Reena. It looked like an older photo.

He knew that the previous director had instated Reena into the program, but now that he had evidence of a closer connection to their management, he wasn't so sure that someone else didn't have their hand in it as well.

The whole team questioned her credentials, so he knew he needed to keep his mouth shut on this. He didn't need to give them another reason to outcast her.

He knew immediately where he needed to check now.

***

Reena was making her way through out the tunnels. She wanted to investigate an old lab that was no longer in use. They all had been on missions a lot recently involving strange creatures. She wondered if they had come from someone who used to work in intelligence. The Spies program included a former case involving a mad scientist who brought strange creatures to life and merged animals together.

***

Marcus made his way into the director's office.

"Mr. Moreno, what do I owe the pleasure?" Lorenza asked.

"I..."

"Are you looking for Reena?" Lor raised her eyebrow knowingly.

Marcus was about to answer when he noticed the application on the desk with a bright red denied stamp across the top.

"She's trying to transfer out of the Heroics?"

"I can't answer that Mr. Moreno. Why don't you ask her that yourself?"

"I would if I could find her," Marcus snapped out.

Lorenza took out an old map and circled something on it.

"I can't tell you where she is, and I can't tell you where to go. This is not a map, and that is not a secret entrance," she told him as she slid it over to him.

***

Reena found the lab and entered the room. She immediately looked for any information that could be helpful to them.

Hearing some footsteps, she ducked behind a table.

"Reena? Reena?" a voiced called out.

She recognized it as Marcus Moreno.

"Marcus?" she called out.

"Reena."

Marcus walked into the room she was in.

"We've been looking for you," he told her.

"Really? Because I can imagine a few people who wouldn't be," she lightly argued.

"I... that's not true," he flubbed.

"Don't lie to me, Marcus. You think I don't hear the whispers? See the looks behind my back? You forget that my abilities are analyzing. I see everything. I read everyone," she admitted, "Even you."

Marcus took a step back from her.

"You're trying at least. You have to catch yourself from thinking I'm lesser than the rest of you. You have quite a bit bottled up, don't you? You have the expectation of leadership on you with who your mother is. You try to play it off as cocky, and don't get me wrong. You definitely are. You understand you're skilled and act like it," she rambled it on, but she was getting tired of being the brunt of everyone's ire, "You pretend that you're not insecure, but you definitely are. You have this expectation of yourself you don't believed you can attain-."

Marcus lunged at her and knocked her into the table. He couldn't keep hearing what he knew to be true.

"Stop. Stop," he lightly held her down, "I... I'm sorry, sorry."

He helped her up off the ground.

"It's okay. I get it. It happens," she shuffled her feet.

"What are you doing down here?"

"I was looking into why we've been dealing with all these monster attacks. I mean monsters are a regular thing, but there just seemed to be so many that I figured that they had to come from somewhere," she explained.

"And you think that's here?" he nodded at her.

"I'm not sure, but I was going through the Spies files and found some interesting scientists. They were working on creating monsters. The program got scrapped, but what if one was still working on it."

"That's actually pretty good. How'd you get access to this information?"

"I... uh...."

"I know you know Lorenza," he raised an eyebrow.

"Lorenza got me recruited into the intelligence program. I thought I was going into the Spies, but as you see Max changed my transcripts. She still got me a job fixing the spies software firewall while in between Heroics work."

"That's what you've been working on," he nodded.

"Yep, they needed someone who could see the flaws," she explained.

"And you can do that?"

"It's in my repertoire," she nodded.

"And you can see all of ours?"

"Not necessarily. I can only see what's right in front of me. I work with you the most, so sometimes I can see what you try to hide," she explained.

Both of them were scouring the room, looking for any good clues. Their were lots of papers left and scraps of ideas but nothing concrete enough to see yet.

Marcus pulled an old binder out of a shelf, and the papers fell out.

"Crap."

Both Reena and Marcus dropped down to pick them up but bumped heads in the process.

"Ow!"

They looked at each other.

"Sorry," they both apologized at the same time.

Reena grabbed some papers while Marcus grabbed the rest. They laid them out in the table and looked them over.

"Wait a minute. That's the creature we fought," she pointed out one of the pages.

Marcus slid a page over to her.

"Miracle Guy fought this one last week."

"And Vox destroyed this one three days ago."

She pulled another page out.

"Tech-No," he slid a few more out, "Red Lightning Fury, Lavagirl, Crushing Low, Blinding Fast."

"Let me guess. Sharkboy is fighting this one right now," Reena showed him a sea creature monster.

"I just sent him on this mission yesterday," Marcus realized.

"That means that the same person is creating these creatures, and that they used to work for us. We need to get more information on who was over these creations!" Reena got excited.

"Grab the rest of the papers. We need a team meeting," Marcus ordered.

Reena picked up as many papers as she could find.

"Calling all Heroics! We have a meeting now," Marcus ordered over his com device.

***

Reena was by the computers when the rest of the team entered the building, even Lavagirl and Sharkboy now.

"So did we find Reena now?" Crimson asked.

She wanted to roll her eyes. She was right there. She knew she wasn't a flashy person, but she wasn't Invisi Girl.

"She's over here," Marcus responded a bit irritated.

She wasn't invisible he thought.

They all nodded like "Okay, she was found now. Why are we all here?"

"We are all here because she found something useful while you were all fighting," Marcus continued.

"Us fighting?" Miracle Guy scoffed.

"I know, right?" Crimson agreed under his breath.

Marcus gestured for her to bring up the presentation.

"There is a lab underneath the city, and in it, we found plans for different monster that we have all be fighting recently," he continued.

She pulled up the plans for one of the monsters.

"Reena and I fought this one this morning."

Another one.

"I fought that one last week," Miracle Guy pointed out.

Another one.

"I just fought that one," Vox joined in.

Slowly she had brought up every monster that they all had encountered even Sharkboy's most recent one.

"The only one who hasn't encountered a monster is-," Marcus started.

"Me," Crimson Legend realized too.

"Technically, me too. I went with Marcus on that last one, but everyone else has fought a monster solo," she spoke up.

They all turned to her.

"We've talked about that, and we think either they don't know she's a part of the Heroics yet," Marcus said, "or her monster is coming."

They turned their attention back to Marcus.

"We also took a closer look at the plans, and it seems that every creature has a feature that matches one of our weaknesses," he continued.

She pulled one of the plans out and zoomed in on some of the words written in the margins. It was the creature her and Marcus had fought. It was called a "Slime Rat". She took the stylus and circled the words "slime" and "able to dull blades".

"My swords couldn't cut this monster, but we defeated it by electrocuting it," he explained.

She pulled up the plans for "Sea Runt". Sharkboy had just come back from this one. She circled the words "skin" and "strong enough to break shark teeth".

"Sharkboy did noticed that he had a hard time bitting it, even in Shark Frenzy," Lavagirl enforced their findings.

"Right, so we need to find what kind of thing that Crimson Legend will have trouble fighting," Marcus continued.

"I can think of a few things," Miracle Guy scoffed.

"Really? You want to do this now, Flashy," Crimson argued.

"It'd be my pleasure," Miracle returned.

"If you're taking him out, I'd gladly join you," Red joined in.

"Oh please. The both of you together couldn't take me on," Crimson countered.

"Make that three," Blinding joined in.

"Guys, stop," Marcus tried to regain some order.

That wasn't working because the arguments got louder.

"Stop it!" Marcus hollered again.

"If our enemy wanted to use our weaknesses, in arguing would be number one," Reena spoke up.

Marcus shot her a "not right now" look.

She took her staff out and clicked the button to extend it. She bopped them all on the head while they were distracted.

This got their attention and their ire.

"Hey!"

"Thanks, Reena," Marcus nodded to her.

They all looked at Marcus now.

"Back to my point, we need to find out what type of creature is next, and we need to figure out who's doing this," he stated.

"If I can get some help, I could probably search the software for who could be on that old research team," Reena spoke up.

"I know how to work technology," Tech-No agreed.

"Good, you two get on that," Marcus ordered, "Miracle, Red, why don't you figure out Crimson's weaknesses?"

"What do we do?" Lavagirl asked.

The rest nodded.

"Blinding Fast, you and Invisi Girl, see if you can find more out about our monsters from the lab techs," Marcus continued his orders.

That left Sharkboy, Lavagirl, Vox, and Crushing Low.

"Sharkboy, see if the fish or something can tell you anything. Lavagirl, go with him as backup," he ordered.

Vox and Crushing looked at him expectantly.

"Vox, Crushing, why don't you take this map and see if there are any clues Reena and I missed," he suggested.


	4. 4

Marcus was astonished to see everyone working together.

Putting Miracle Guy and Red Lightning Fury in charge of finding Crimson Legend's weaknesses was pretty smart. Miracle was always trying to one up someone, and Red was always mad at him so they were more than eager to figure it out.

Reena and Tech-No were busy by the computer. They were scouring file after file for any information on that front.

Blinding Fast and Invisi Girl were going to labs to see if any of the creatures that they had defeated had any signatures or common elements to figure something out.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl were seeing if any fish had any information such as whereabouts.

Vox and Crushing Low were in the tunnels looking for clues there.

***

Reena was typing in the codes for the Spies software database.

"Wow, I didn't know you knew computers just as well as I did," Tech-No was surprised.

"Believe me, I don't. I'm just a decent hacker because I can see where all the holes are," she emphasized the see part.

"Oh yeah, you're some sort of super analyzer, aren't cha?"

"Kind of, I guess."

"Go ahead. Analyze me," Tech prompted.

"I'd rather not. I prefer reading my enemies more than my friends," she admitted.

Sometimes it comes in handy to know how to deal with people, but she was used to stepping on people's toes which most people didn't like. She understood that. Everyone wanted a bit of privacy in the moment.

"Come on," he baited, "We might need to figure out your weakness too. You still don't have a monster yet."

"And I might never get one. I'm normal. The person making them probably already knows this and passed over me if they even know I was there to begin with."

"Oh come on. Just this once," he persisted.

"Okay," she turned to look at him and really pay attention.

Tech gave her a cheeky grin.

"You're left knee is giving up on you. You have a problem trying to find ways to maximize fuel usage. That's why you're always falling out of the sky. You think fast but sometimes miss the obvious. You're having problems with Lisa aren't you?"

"How'd you know all that? Even about Lisa?"

She gave him a wry smile.

"I pay attention."

"Oh yeah. I bet anyone could have figured that out."

"True which is why I'm not really Heroic material.... but you've been limping on your left leg for a while now. You keep returning to your jet pack to find out another energy source but give up after a while and stop. Invisi Girl just saved you last week from a nasty fall. You missed the obvious because I may or may not have your wallet, and you checked your phone three times in the thirty minutes. The only person who calls you is Lisa," she smirked at him.

Tech patted himself down and realized his wallet was gone. He also checked his phone again to see if his girlfriend had called.

"Lucky break," he scoffed half heartedly.

Reena then pulled through some encrypted files.

"I've got something."

She popped up on screen a profile of a scientist called Dr. Romi Olgard. There were holes in the files which she quickly tried to fill in.

"Can you fill the rest of it in?" Tech asked.

"I'm doing my best but there may not be enough there for me to narrow it down. I don't even know what he was working with?"

"You may not, but we do," Blinding Fast announced when he entered the room.

They all turned to look at him.

"The labs said all of these creatures have a similar element. Something called element X," he explained.

Invisi Girl appeared next to him.

"You didn't have to leave me behind," she snapped at them.

"Sorry, but I couldn't see you."

"Mmmmhum," she huffed.

"Can anyone tell us about element X?" Marcus asked.

"We can," Vox sang out.

Crushing Low dropped a box full of files and lab equipment at their feet.

"It's some type of compound element that can bind with any type of DNA," Vox explained.

"Do we know who is doing this?" Marcus asked.

"We do," Reena spoke up.

"Dr. Romi Olgard from a failed Spies initiative," Tech explained.

"He was a biologist who was working on genetically modifying animals, but after a Dr. Romero was found along with an Island of "Lost Dreams", they decided to scrap the program," she read out to them.

"But why target us when it was the Spies who scrapped the program?" Vox asked.

They all looked at one another.

"Could be a test?" Reena brought up.

They all turned to her now.

"Well what better way to test your designs than against the Heroics? He could see just how strong they were before he used them for their actual purposes. That way he could figure out what went wrong and improve them," she explained.

"That sounds like its the plan," Lavagirl spoke as her and Sharkboy walked in.

"Sharkboy, Lavagirl, did you find out anything more?" Marcus asked.

"We did. There's some strange creatures being spotted off the coast of California," she explained.

"That must be where the lab is," Marcus told them.

"So how does that correlate to Crimson?" Invisi Girl asked.

"Now we know what to expect when we get there," Crushing Low stated, "Crimson is the last one."

"Heroics, let's move out!" Marcus ordered.

***

Reena was grabbing a few things for her utility belt before they left.

"Thank you by the way," Marcus said.

She turned around to see him leaning against the door frame.

"What for?"

"For figuring all of this out. Without you, we wouldn't even know there was a threat out there," he told her.

He walked over and grabbed a sheathed dagger from his weapons stash. He tossed it up and caught the blade side with the handle facing towards her.

"Take it. You never know. You might need it," he gently held it out to her.

"Thanks," she took the blade and gently placed it onto her belt.

Both of them ran to their transport. On one helicopter type of transport was Marcus, Reena, Tech-No, Vox, Invisi Girl, and Crushing Low. On another one was Miracle Guy, Red Lightning Fury, Crimson Legend, Blinding Fast, Sharkboy, and Lavagirl.

***

Within a few hours, they were approaching the area where the creatures had been spotted.

"Sharkboy," Marcus ordered over the com.

Sharkboy dashed off the transport and into the ocean. He was seeing if there were any good underwater tunnels.

"Invisi Girl, Miracle Guy," Marcus called them out too.

Both of them flew off in search of the lab. They were going by the skies.

"Blinding Fast, Lavagirl," he gestured for them next.

Blinding Fast jumped out of the ride with a copter parachute while Lavagirl used her abilities to land safely. They were going on land.

This left Marcus, Reena, Tech-No, Vox, Crushing Low, Red Lightning Fury, and Crimson Legend.

"Tech-No, do you have anything we can use to scan the area?" Marcus asked.

"Not fully," he replied.

"Can you use Vox's singing? Like as sound waves? Sharkboy isn't here to be bothered by it," Reena tried.

"My singing is lovely," Vox argued.

"It is but Sharks have a difference frequently to their hearing," Reena explained.

While they were talking, Tech-No was fiddling with a device.

"That could work," he agreed, "Vox, come over here and sing into this panel. I have the radar setup, and we should be able to see everybody."

They all waited as Tech-No and Vox worked on their device.

“Got it,” Tech-No shouted, “Sharkboy’s got some trouble on the sea!”

“I’m on it!” Crushing Low jumped out of transport before anyone could stop him.

“I would have sent Red, but okay,” Marcus said.

Reena looked over and noticed how much tension was between Red and Crimson. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to decipher that.

“There’s a lab up ahead, and here comes a beast,” Tech-No told them.

Reena looked up and over as well. It was a huge beast made up entirely of water. She tried to spy some form of weakness to it if water wasn’t the obvious choice.

“I think that’s Crimson’s beast,” Marcus noticed.

“He can’t blow up water,” she added, “But electricity seems too obvious of a weakness.”

“But we can’t wait for that,” Marcus took charge, “Crimson and Red, you need to go!”

Red grabbed Crimson and flew off towards it.

Something smashed into their transports and knocked them out of the sky.

Vox grabbed onto Reena while Tech-No grabbed Marcus. They shakily landed near the crash site.

“What happened?” Marcus asked.

“Something shot us out of the sky,” Reena said.

Marcus shot her a “yeah, I know” look.

“But what was it?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know, but it destroyed my scanner,” Tech-No stated.

“I can fly up and see what’s happening?” Vox suggested.

“Yeah, do that,” Marcus agreed.

Vox flew off, leaving them alone.


	5. 5

They waited for several minutes, but it became apparent that Vox wasn't coming back.

"Did something get her?" Tech-No asked.

"I don't know," Marcus felt agitated.

A member of his team had left, and they didn't know where she went. He felt like he was failing them.

"We can't stay here then. We'll just be picked off. We knew where they were going, so let's see if we can head that way," Reena suggested.

"I'm following her," Tech-No agreed.

Reena blushed but nodded to Tech.

Marcus nodded to and followed Reena through the woods.

"Any more scanners?" she asked.

"None that are working," Tech said most of his stuff got damaged in the crash.

"Maybe you should come up with a caller thing. Like your devices should fly to you like Marcus's stuff," she suggested.

"I'll think about that," he agreed.

Soon they came across a large door and wall.

"Where do you think Blinding went? He should have seen this and alerted us, right?" Reena asked.

"That's another question isn't it?" Marcus agreed.

Tech-No instantly went over to the door and tried to hack it.

Marcus kept an eye out what was behind them. He definitely felt unsettled to have members of the Heroics go missing.

"Got it," Tech-No told them.

They followed him inside the wall. The room opened up to reveal that it was a large area instead. They looked up and saw the sky above them.

"It's a virtual landscape above us," Reena said, "Blinding Fast is probably up there running around on top of us."

"I wonder if there's a control board?" Tech mused.

"Over here!" Marcus called out to them.

They ran over and saw what he'd seen. There was a river of lava in front of them.

"Where's Lavagirl when you need her?" Tech commented.

"Well we don't have her now," Marcus snapped.

He was beating himself over the head for not having her with them.

"Guys! Run!" Reena shouted.

Both guys saw a swarm of smaller creatures flying out of the lava.

They took off.

"Why'd it have to be lava bugs! I hate bugs!" Tech shouted.

They ran until they all three slammed into an invisible wall. Turning around, they realized they were trapped.

"Reena find a weakness in this wall," Marcus ordered, "Tech and I will handle these bugs!"

"Do I have to?" Tech half whined.

"Tech!" Marcus warned.

Both guys jumped into action. Tech-No took out his blaster and tried to shoot the creatures down while Marcus was using his abilities is move his swords around at the bugs. His poor swords were getting holes in them.

Reena moved her hands around the wall trying to find a weak spot. Her eyes darted back and forth along the wall. She couldn't see anything.

"Reena, hurry!" Marcus shouted over his shoulder.

She looked to see that his swords were completely ruined, and Tech's blaster was running out of ammo.

She focused her abilities and spotted a shimmer to the side. She ran over and managed to bust open a computer panel.

"Tech! I have computer panel over here!" she called out.

Tech ran over, and she went to Marcus's side.

"Stay behind me," he ground out.

She kept behind him but took out her staff.

"I'm still with you," she agreed.

She tossed him her staff to use while she looked for something else to help them.

He twirled her staff around and batted bugs away from them right and left.

She took a moment to take a glance at her teammate's work. His stances were near flawless. She could see the way he expertly knocked the lava bugs back. Her staff was getting destroyed thought. It was made out of metal which provided a bit more protection not not enough to combat lava.

Looking up, she noticed that a sprinkler system above them. Lavagirl's weakness is water. It stings her.

She takes her grappling hook out and throws it towards the sprinklers.

"Marcus, I need help!" she shouts to him as her hook doesn't make it that far.

Marcus saw what she was doing and used his abilities to smash the sprinkler head.

Water rained down on them all, and the lava bugs quickly fled off.

"Thanks," she told him.

"Sorry," Marcus returned when he showed her the damaged staff.

He moved his hand and brought her grappling hook back to her.

She took it and placed it back into her belt.

"Hey guys! I'm glad that sprinkler thing worked, and not too soon either. I got the wall down, but now the panel's fried. I can't get anything else from it," Tech let them know.

Marcus and Reena walked over to their friend. She could hear her shoes squeak against the floor. Marcus kept glancing over at her with every step.

"Can you quiet those down?" he asked.

"Only if I could dry them," she muttered.

"Where do we go from here?" Tech asked.

"We'll continue down our path," Marcus decided.

Marcus led them down a corridor where the lights flickered around them. Tech took out a flashlight and shined it in front of them. Reena kept an eye out for more critters.

Soon they entered a laboratory looking room.

"Another lab," Marcus groaned.

"Do you want to fight more lava bugs?" Reena countered.

"Nope! No bugs!" Tech shouted out.

Marcus flipped on a light switch and the entire room lit up.

They all saw Invisi Girl strapped in on the other side of the room.

"Invisi Girl!" Marcus shouted, and they all ran over.

Reena saw a pipe and IV connected to her.

"They're pumping something out of her," she realized.

"Get her out of here. She needs medical help," Marcus ordered.

Reena gently pulled the IV out while he cut the straps on her with one of his daggers. Tech disconnected the pipe.

"Tech, can you get her out of here? Use your com and call base for assistance," Marcus ordered.

Tech nodded and took Invisi Girl in his arms and ran out of the room.

"If she's here then where's Miracle Guy?" Reena asked.

Marcus grimaced at that. He split the team up, and now they were falling one by one.

"Come on," Marcus gestured over to her.

She followed him as they kept walking throughout the building. He subtly made sure to stick closer to her side. He didn't want to lose her either.

"Lava.... lava bugs...," Reena mused.

There was something they were missing.

"What is it Reena?" Marcus asked.

He stopped and turned to her.

"Where'd the lava come from? Lavagirl's missing too," she concluded.

"What?"

"What is element X isn't an unknown element? What if it is a code of sorts? Like the same code in you?" she grabbed his upper arms.

"What?"

"You, you and the rest of the Heroics. You all have this genetic makeup that has your abilities in it. You have something different, and that's what he needs," she kept on her idea, "That's what he's doing. He needs us to keep up his experiments."

Marcus took in her words and nodded gravely. He separated them all, and now it sounded like he needed to get them back.

"Okay," he nodded to her, "Okay."

Marcus and Reena ran out of the room and down the hallway until they came across a large metal door.

"Step back," he ordered before using his powers to shove open the door.

They walked in and found themselves in a room surrounded by their Heroics team minus Invisi Girl and Tech-No.

Their teammates were strapped down and had pipes and needles in them just like how they found Invisi Girl. The only difference was that they were behind some type of half invisible barrier.

"Marcus, it's half loaded up. We must have gotten Invisi out before this was fully juiced up," Reena pointed out.

"How do we get the others out?" he asked.

Reena went over to the computer and began to hack into it when a red spark zapped her back.

"Reena!" Marcus ran over and kneeled over her.

"Red... Red Lightning Fury," she whispered before falling unconscious.

A screen dropped in front of him.

"Hello, Moreno," Dr. Olgard greeted him.

"What'd you do to my team?" Marcus snarled at him.

"Oh them. I'm just using their highly gifted abilities to fix my element X," the man applauded himself.

"I'm going to stop you," he growled as he gripped his arms around Reena.

"Oh you're too late you know? I'm sending an army of monsters out to the city where your Heroics base is located," the mad doctor sneered.

Marcus looked troubled. He couldn't defeat these beasts by himself.

"You should thank your newest member for my success. If it wasn't for her meddling, I would have never realized what I was missing," Dr. Olgard boasted.

"Reena would never help you," he defended, "She's a hero and a rightful member of the Heroics!"

"M... Ma.. Marcus," she groaned out as she tried to sit up.

"Oh she didn't know she did, but I got a sample of her blood during an attack to a city a few years ago, and what I found made me realize exactly what I was missing!" Olgard shouted gleefully.

The screen in front of them showed a large purple furry beast that crashed into a restaurant. A younger Reena pushed a younger version of their current director, Lorenza, out of the way, but not without getting scratched by the beast. They could see that its claws were filled with her blood before it took off.

Reena brought her hand to her arm where the scars were.

"I was aiming for the Cortez, but once I analyzed her blood, I got to use it to create my first successfully long lasting monster," Olgard explained, "It really pays to have the power of seeing what others can't!"

He pressed a button and another door locked them inside.

"But for now, I've trapped the Heroics! Nothing can stop me now!" Olgard shouted and cut their screen.


	6. 6

"Are you okay?" Marcus asked her.

Reena shakily got up off the floor.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay."

"We have to figure out a way to free the team and stop those monsters," he says.

"Right," she nodded.

They looked around and realized that there was literally nothing in the room that they could see that was useful. Their friends were behind a barrier that went from the floor to the ceiling which was too high for them to reach. The computer that Reena had been at was fried, and the screen their villain used was up in the ceiling again.

"We're trapped here," he ground out.

Reena jumped back when he punched the wall in frustration.

"Stop that. We can't get out of here if you injure yourself," she scolded.

"I can't help it. I... I just feel helpless," he admitted with a heavy sigh.

"I know you do, but if we freak out, we can't save them," she put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

Marcus smiled at her for a moment before realizing something.

"Reena, you can get us out of here!" he shouted at her excitedly.

"How Marcus? I don't have like super pick locking skills, and we sent Tech-No away," she scoffed.

"No! Remember what he said 'It pays to have a power to see what others do not'. You. You have the exact same thing he does, even more because it's yours naturally," he explained, "If anyone can get us out of here, it's you."

Reena nodded and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and truly looked around the room before looking up. In the tiny crease of the ceiling she saw the panel where the screen was.

"Marcus, does a TV screen have metal in it?"

"Yeah," he said and looked up too.

"Bring it down," she smirked.

Marcus raised his hand and used his powers to pull the screen from the ceiling and drop it to the floor.

Reena took her grappling hook out and threw it towards the hole.

Marcus used his abilities to move the hook up and secured it to a pipe above them.

She pulled on to make sure it was gonna hold.

"We're good," she let him know.

"Good," Marcus got a good look at the hole, "You're gonna have to go up there by yourself. I'm not gonna fit."

"I can't."

"You can. Now go. We're wasting time," he encouraged.

She grimaced but grabbed onto the rope and began to climb up.

"I'll here to catch you if you fall," he shouted up at her, "But keep going you're doing great!"

Reena made it up the very high rope and hauled herself into the crevice. She looked around and saw some glowing panels in a circle. There was one for each Heroic captured.

She made it to the first one and opened it up. There was a series of wires. She immediately saw which one to cut. She took out a small pair of scissors and used it to cut the blue wire.

Down below, Marcus saw Blinding Fast's case flicker off. He immediately ran over and freed his friend.

"Marcus," Blinding opened his eyes.

As soon as the pipe was gone, he was up but a little disoriented.

One by one, Reena and Marcus freed all of their friends except Crimson.

Reena cut the wire while Marcus pulled the pipe off of his friend when Crimson, in surprise, blasted his powers at the ceiling which caused them to exploded.

"Ah!" Reena fell out of the ceiling.

"Reena!"

Marcus stepped below her and used his abilities to pull her belt to him like last time.

Reena opened her eye cautiously to see that Marcus had caught her.

"I got you," he grinned cheekily at her.

"Quite flirting!" Red shouted.

Marcus dropped her suddenly at those words.

"Ow," Reena groaned but got up.

"Sorry," he awkwardly apologized.

"So what do we do now?" Blinding Fast asked.

"First we need to make it back to the city and stop those monsters, protect the civilians. Then we take down that man," Marcus stood up straighter.

They all looked to him.

"Miracle, you're gonna take Reena and Red back," he said.

Miracle walked over and wrapped an arm around Reena's waist and Red's waist.

"Hold on. I don't need a man to save me," Red argued.

"No, but you can't fly," Marcus explained.

"Oh."

"Always gotta make a point. Don't you?" Crimson argued.

"Shut up," Red retorted.

"Blinding, you're gonna take Crimson and Sharkboy," Marcus shouted over them to stop any more arguments.

"Got it!" Blinding Fast zipped over and grabbed the two heroes.

"Vox, can you get Crushing and I?" Marcus asked.

"Of course I can," Vox sang.

"Lavagirl, you can use your lava powers to travel," he continued.

They all looked at him.

"Heroics! Let's go!"


	7. 7

They made it back to the city right on time to see the creatures arrive. They were more like clear gooey blobs than anything.

"Those look like the ones from the lab," Crimson said.

"How'd you defeat it?" Marcus asked.

"We didn't. We all got captured," he admitted.

"This is the same one that took Sharkboy and I done," Crushing Low said too.

"My electricity didn't do anything to it," Red said.

"And my lava fizzled out," Lavagirl said.

"It's slimy, so I got stuck in it," Blinding said.

"Which means my swords are useless," Marcus groaned, "Not like I have them now anyway."

They all stared at the creatures trying to figure out what to do.

"What if I punched them?" Miracle suggested.

"You'll get stuck," Vox sang, "Even my voice couldn't penetrate those beasts."

"Shark frenzy is out of the way, and there's no sea life around here," Lavagirl added too.

"Well... we can't let them hurt the citizens, so let's do what we can to keep them away," Marcus looked at them for confirmation.

"Right," they agreed and flew towards the action.

Vox dropped Marcus, and he ran towards the creatures first. He used his magnetic abilities to pull vacant cars at the creatures to beat them down.

To their horror, the creatures just began to absorb the cars instead of slowing them down.

Vox sat down Crushing and began to use her voice to try and lift the creatures into the air.

Crushing began to break the roads apart and use his strength to pick up the gooey beasts by the concrete they were underneath.

That worked for a moment before they oozed themselves back to the ground.

Lavagirl used her lava to try and keep the creatures balled up. Her magna solidified when it contacted the oozy creatures.

Blinding Fast dropped Sharkboy and Crimson down, who was trying to make the beasts exploded.

They just gooped back up again.

A large metal tentacle shot out and knocked Miracle out of the sky along with Red and Reena.

"Red!" Crimson shouted in distress.

"Reena!" Marcus called out.

Tech-No grabbed Red while an invisible force grabbed Reena.

"Thanks for you concern guys," Miracle groaned as he picked himself off the ground.

"Thanks Tech," Red said."

"No problem," Tech nodded.

"Thanks," Reena said.

"No problem," Invisi Girl appeared.

"I'm glad to see you two are okay," Marcus shouted at them.

"Oh, by the way, I grabbed these!" Tech threw two swords at Marcus while he threw a staff at Reena.

They both caught their equipment.

"I'm glad you remembered," Marcus smiled.

They all turned to see the metal tentacle bot flying above their heads.

"That must be Olgard," Reena said.

"We need to figure out how to defeat these creatures," Marcus reminded them.

"Reena hasn't figured it out?" Tech asked.

"Not yet. I need a little more time," she replied.

"Okay, you'll get it," Marcus promised, "Sharkboy, you and me are gonna take that thing down."

Sharkboy nodded to him before running off.

"Miracle, stay here and keep Reena safe."

Miracle wrapped an arm around her and nodded.

"Get her out of here if it's too dangerous," he continued.

Invisi, Red, Tech, and Blinding all looked towards Marcus.

"Red keep a watch on our backs. Tech, Invisi, and Blinding, you all need to help evacuate the city. I don't want any one getting hurt," he finished.

Red looked like she was gonna argued but didn't.

Tech and Invisi flew off while Blinding ran away.

Marcus ran off to where Sharkboy was clinging to a tentacle and flailing about. He used his abilities to try and grab onto the thing as a whole.

"Red, give it a shock!" he shouted.

Red shot lighting at it but it was blocked by a force field.

"Do you think this a good time for a selfie?" Miracle asked.

"Really?" Reena turned to look at him.

"What? Clear gooey monsters look cool... plus Abigail thinks my job is cool," he grinned.

Abigail was a girl he was recently seeing. She was kinda shallow but seemed nice enough. He was quite smitten with her.

"Not now Miracle-," she stopped as she truly got a good look at the creatures.

It was hard to see a clear monster. She realized she could see the insides of the creatures. They weren't liquid at all but made up of millions of individual cells too small for the human eyes. They followed the flow of their form like a hive mind. If they had a hive mind, then who was the brain?

She looked up to see the tentacle bot that Sharkboy was clinging too. Marcus's abilities couldn't pull on it, and neither could Red shock it. It was surrounded by a paper thin force field. She took a closer look and saw it fizzle out in a small panel by the base of the bot.

"Miracle, we need to get up there. I've got a plan," she smirked at him.

Miracle looked at her and grabbed her by her waist.

"Now let's get Red," she told him.

Miracle flew over and picked Red up too.

"Hey!" she cried out indignantly.

"Listen Red. When I give you the signal, shock my staff," Reena told her.

"Okay?" Red said confused.

Miracle flew them closer to the tentacle bot.

"Sharkboy! Marcus! Keep the tentacles busy!" Reena shouted.

"What do you think we're doing?" Marcus shouted back.

Marcus took out his swords and began to slash at the tentacles while Sharkboy began to try and bite them. He was using his shark strength, but the force field was protecting them.

Reena took her staff out and leveled it to the broken panel. She threw it with all her force, and it lodged into the base causing the whole think to spark and start to short circuit.

The bot threw Marcus and Sharkboy down while a tentacle shot out and wrapped around Reena's neck. She instantly grabbed Marcus's dagger and shoved it into a coil. It pulled her out of Miracle's arms who was trying to keep a hold of Red too.

Reena found herself dangling by a tentacle around her neck. The only think keeping her from choking was that dagger. She was flailing around herself trying to break free.

Marcus thought about using his abilities to pull her to himself, but with the coil the way it was. He was more likely to strangle her instead.

"Can't do anything to me now? Can you Heroics? Surrender to me!" Olgard shouted gleefully from inside the bot.

Reena managed to glance around and saw the face of dispare on Marcus. She also saw the shock of her friends. They weren't gonna risk her safety even at the price of the city. She couldn't let that happen.

"Red! Do it! Shock my staff!" she shouted, but it sounded quite strangled.

"But Reena," she protested.

"Just do it!"

"Red, don't!" Marcus shouted, but it was too late.

Red used her abilities to pull the full force of her lightning at the metal staff. The red lightning engulfed the whole machine down to the last tentacle.

Reena's screams would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Marcus watched as Reena went slack, and the bot began to fall out of the sky.

"Reena!"

Lavagirl heard what happened, and she threw some lava at the tentacle attached to Reena's cut, cutting it off.

Marcus used his ability to put the rest away.

At this moment, Blinding Fast came running out and ran right towards Reena.

Miracle Guy flew towards the bot and grabbed onto it to keep it from hitting his teammates below him. Red was still in his arms, and she was directing the electricity to her body to keep him from getting electrocuted.

Blinding grabbed Reena and made his way to the ground again.

Tech also flew back once he heard Reena's screams.

Marcus ran over and got a closer look at her.

"Is she still breathing?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, but it's really faint," Blinding said.

Tech used a scanner to get a reading on her injuries.

"She's alive, but she needs medical help immediately," Tech frantically said.

"Blinding, go," Marcus ordered.

Blinding Fast zipped away.


	8. 8

Miracle could no longer hold the bot, and he had to let it go. It fell to the ground with a horrible thud.

"Sharkboy!" Marcus ordered.

Sharkboy ran over and began to tear the machinery apart.

Both Marcus and Tech ran towards it while Miracle gently put Red down onto the ground. Both of them were now exhausted from the strain of using their powers to the max.

Lavagirl, Vox, Crushing, and Crimson were still trying to hold off the creatures, but they had significantly slowed down their movements. Whatever was controlling them was damaged or running out of power.

Once Sharkboy had ripped open the pilot chamber, he threw the man on the ground in front of Marcus.

Marcus raised his swords to Olgard's neck.

"How do you stop those creatures?" he demanded.

Olgard laughed at him.

"Tell me," Marcus growled.

Olgard spit in his face.

Tech, who had gone to check the wreckage site, figured out how those creatures worked.

"Marcus, you're not gonna like this," Tech called out.

Marcus turned to look at him while keeping an eye on Olgard.

"What?"

***

Blinding Fast had Reena in the medical ward in record time. Their Heroics med team had her immediately hooked up to their monitors and devices.

The medical staff were cleaning her electricity burns and sticking IV needles into her arms.

Blinding noticed how weak her heartbeat was.

***

Tech gestured for Marcus to come look at something.

"Don't worry, Marcus. Sharkboy and I will watch this fool," Red spoke up and walked over.

Sharkboy leaned threateningly over the man while Miracle Guy flew off to help the others with the monsters.

"What is it, Tech?" Marcus worriedly grimaced.

"I'm afraid we can't destroy those things without hurting Reena," Tech pointed to some internal monitors, "Those levels indicated a biological connection between all those creatures."

"He's still using her blood," Marcus realized.

His heart sank.

"I can disable those activators, but it could also cannibalize those cells, and I have no idea how to control that," Tech grimaced, "She could be caught up in the crossfire."

Marcus took a deep breath before stalking towards Olgard. He jumped on the man, to the surprise of Sharkboy, and began to punch him.

"You better tell me how to save her," he snarled.

"Never," Olgard grunted out.

Marcus smashed his fists into the man once more until he felt arms wrap around his body.

"Get off of me," he growled.

"Not until you calm down," Invisi Girl appeared before them all.

"I gotta stop those beasts and save Reena," he argued.

"Just look, Marcus," she whispered.

Marcus looked around and realized his team was once again being overrun with those creatures. Reena's attack had bought them only a bit of time, but now that was over. He needed to make a decision. He needed to be their leader. He couldn't let his personal feeling get in the way of protecting the people. He was Heroic, and there was a whole world who depended on them to save them.

He looked over at Tech.

"Do it. Stop this," he coldly ordered.

"But Marcus-," Tech started.

"Now," Marcus gave no room to argue.

None of them were gonna argue with him since they all saw the dark serious look on his face. He could have murdered someone, maybe he was?

***

Blinding Fast jumped up when Reena's heart monitors began to beep out.

The doctors and staff were trying to frantically to stabilize her.

***

The Heroics turned around to see the creatures start to collapse into themselves. They flailed about and began to low hum scream.

Marcus's heart clinched when he realized how much pain Reena must be in.

The creatures dissolved away within minutes.

***

Reena's heart monitor flatlined.

Blinding Fast raced away to the group instantly.

"Help! Reena's dying! Her heart stopped!" Blinding shouted at them.

"Red! Go with him!" Marcus shouted.

Blinding Fast picked up Red and ran towards Reena.

***

Now that they knew for sure that Reena was dying he wasn't gonna hold back, and he knew the others weren't either.

"Sharkboy!" Marcus shouted.

Sharkboy grabbed Olgard and threw him towards Miracle.

Tech threw some handcuffs towards Miracle too.

They had him cuffed and tied up.

"Invisi, make sure they have him in a high level prision," Marcus ordered.

Miracle Guy and Invisi Girl flew off towards the base.

"If you're still good to go, help clean up this mess," he ordered.

***

Red ran into the medical bay and immediately pushed the other doctors away. She placed her hands on Reena's body and gently pulsed electricity into her.

Blinding saw the monitor beep.

"Do it again," he ordered.

Red gave another push.

Reena's body jolted.

Red did it again.

"Ah," Reena gave a soft gasp.

Those in the room watched as the heart monitor beeped a moment, then two, then gave a steady rhythm.

Everyone sighed in relief.

"Get her blood for testing," someone ordered.

The rest of the medical staff ushered them out of the room.


	9. 9: End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t speak Spanish. Google Translate is my tool, so feel free to correct me when I’m wrong.

Marcus sat by Reena's bed in the medical ward. He still felt guilty about ordering the move that helped to put her in there, but he was even more angry and disgusted by that horrible doctor.

Tech told him that there was a chance her abilities had been taken away now. That element X component was in all of their blood and DNA. He explained that was how all of them had their abilities from the blood tests he had been running on all of them. Reena's blood had fewer components than any of them before, but now it was almost nonexistent.

He saw that some of the flowers Lorenza brought her had wilted completely. She had been in that bed for two weeks. She was still hooked up to oxygen tanks and IV drips.

As far as he knew, her family hadn't come to visit. The only ones who visited her were the Heroics team, and their director.

"Come on, Reena. Please pull through," he begged.

"She will, _hijo_. I just know it. You gotta give her time," Anita spoke up. (Son)

" _Pero mamá, ha estado dormida durante dos semanas_ ," Marcus replied. (But mom, she's been asleep for two weeks.)

" _Y su corazón solo se ha vuelto más fuerte_ ," Anita wisely said. (And her heart's only gotten stronger.)

"I know, mom, but... what if she doesn't," Marcus finally voiced his fears.

" _Ella lo hará. No creas que no sé que has estado aquí todo el día durante varios días_ ," Anita spoke comfortingly. (She will. Don't think I don't know that you have been here all day for several days.)

"What are you saying?" he said exasperatedly.

He was too tired for this.

"I'm saying, _hijo_ , that you need to do something about this. You haven't slept, haven't eaten-," she started.

"I ate cereal this morning," he interrupted.

"Don't interrupt your madre!" Anita scolded, "I was saying you need to make a decision about your feelings for her!"

"What feelings?" he asked.

"Marcus, you need to decided that for yourself, _pero sé que harás el correcto para los dos_ ," Anita smiled at him before leaving to his thoughts. (But I know you will make the right one for the both of you.)

***

Reena blinked open her eyes to see where she was. On one side she saw a small table with some fresh flowers on them, a small stuffed elephant, and small brown long box. It was about the same size of a necklace case, but there were a few different colored buttons and lights attached. Next to it was a small blue stoned bracelet.

"Wa... wa," she tried, but her voiced was so dry.

It hurt to breath she suddenly realized suddenly with a panic.

"Hey.. hey. Here, you go," Marcus handed her a cup of water.

He gently pulled her oxygen mask off of her. She didn't need it, but the staff had left it on her as an extra measure to help her breath.

He helped her to hold the cup to her mouth and get a drink.

"Thanks, Marcus," she rasped out.

He put the cup down and stood next to her bed then.

"No problem," he gestured over to the stuff, "Those flowers came from Lorenza, but they wilted so they're replacements. The plush came from Tech-No. He said you liked elephants. That box there is a new staff. It comes with a few modifications and stuff from the Heroics team. You'll love to try it out."

Marcus paused at the bracelet a moment before picking it up and putting it in front of her face.

"This is a com bracelet. I had Tech make it for me. I figured it wouldn't hurt to have an extra con link," he awkwardly held up his own wrist, "I have its pair."

Reena's throat still hurt, so she could only nod.

He gently placed the bracelet on her wrist. He then handed her the stuffed elephant, so that she could get a feel for it. He felt warmer watching her pet the toy soothingly. She looked somewhat happy with it.

She felt the soft ears of the plush. It was so velvety. She smiled at the warm present. She didn't realize that Tech had remembered. It was an off comment she had made one day when they had some alone time.

She had been pretty ostracized from the others when she started, so she didn't get alone time with others that much. She really appreciated someone had taken the time to get it.

"I know you just woke up, but I think you need to get some more sleep," Marcus's voice was quiet and soothing.

He noticed her eyes drooping again.

"You can contact me by that com if you need anything. I'll be close by," he told her.

He grabbed a blanket and covered her up before leaving. Her eyes had already closed.

***

"Marcus," Reena rasped through the com link.

"Reena, do you need something," Marcus's voice came through.

"No.. I.. just.. I'm.. It's dark here," her voice sounded scared.

She had a restless sleep, and then she woke up in the dark with only the cold machines beeping about.

"I'll be right over," Marcus promised.

A few minutes later, Marcus appeared at her doorway. He walked over and pulled up a chair.

"How'd you get here so fast?" she asked.

"I was sleeping in one of the guest rooms," he answered.

They kept guest rooms for visiting dignitaries or for the Heroics staff when they had to pull overnight hours and such. She, herself, had used those rooms a few times.

"Sorry," she rasped.

"Don't be," he leaned in before hesitantly reaching out and grabbing her hand.

She smiled sleepily at him.

"Just relax, okay. I'll be right here," he consoled.

Reena closed her eyes and fell asleep to his presence.

When she wasn't so drugged up and tired, she would feel embarrassed for calling him, but she didn't regret it either way. She enjoyed having him around.

***

It was another two weeks later that Reena was up and walking around the Heroics bass. She was still under house arrest, technically, to monitor her health, but she still was able to move about. Marcus had banned her from the training room though until she was all better. Tech-No was running tests on her too because her blood levels showed a difference in that X element stuff.

She had noticed that she was having a harder time thinking and seeing stuff, but she was hoping that was all the drugs she was on. She was taking some experimental drugs to help her X component get back up to speed too.

She was happy that her burns were healing well, and that there were minimal scaring. Her hair was choppily cut where it was singed. Vox promised to help her get a better look soon.

"Reena? What are you doing up?" Miracle Guy asked.

"I was tired of being in bed, Miracle," she walked over to him.

He was floating above the second level balcony she was standing on.

"I never got around to thank you," he acknowledged.

"Uh.. thanks," she shuffled her feet.

"Welp, I see Marcus, so if you want to keep your freedom, I better go," he flew off.

Reena heard the balcony door open.

"He's got a photoshoot somewhere I swear," Marcus said and walked over to her.

"Or he's going to see Abigail?" she suggested.

"No...?"

"Yes."

"That'll be the day," Marcus grinned at her, "He's the forever bachelor."

"He's smitten," she teased.

Marcus smiled at her for a moment before he looked out across the balcony.

They could see the city from there. The sun was going down, and it was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.

He turned to look at Reena again.

"Why'd you do it?"

"What?"

"Why did you sacrifice yourself?" he finally asked.

It was a burning question in his mind for weeks. He wanted to know why she so selfishly sacrificed herself. Why her? Maybe it could justify why he did it too.

Reena turned to him and looked him in the eye.

"I.. I did it because, Marcus, I really look up to you," she admitted, "You would have done it. You would give your life for anyone of us, for the people. You... I look up to you as leader."

Marcus reached out and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

She kept going.

"You're always looking out for us. You're always the first one to jump in, but you're not reckless," she pulled back, "How could I not do what you would do? You lead us by the example you set, and I want to meet those standards."

Marcus pulled her into another hug. He crushed her against him and felt her tender warmth. He would never measure up to her, but he would work everyday to be worthy of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also this story isn’t over! There are more Reena and Marcus moments to come. I just don’t know if I want to keep adding to this story, or do oneshots since it’s more like moments of their lives and not a complete story.
> 
> Let me know what you guys want, if I’m not the only one reading this?


End file.
